Tough Mudder Race Review.

First off, a few things I didn't know about a Tough Mudder. You are not racing to win. You are racing to finish. You are not racing AGAINST your fellow Mudders, but with them. The Tough Mudder is a fundraiser, which has raised over $3 Million for the Wounder Warrior Project.  The start is extremely emotional and exhilarating. They gather your wave group in a circle and there is a lot of chanting, a lot of "team" talk, a lot of Hoo-ah'ing, a lot of "no man left behind'ing" and whatnot. They talk a lot about the military who you are out there running for, the men and women who have completed these races with prosthetics, or whose families complete them in their honor as they are no longer alive to compete themselves. When they played the National Anthem I had tears rolling down my face. The team spirit continued through every moment of the race, not just amongst our team, but amongst every person out there. I saw people picking up strangers who had fallen down. I had strangers helping me up obstacles. I saw men on different teams carrying the logs of women who simply could not carry their own. It was really awesome, and it felt great to be a part of such a thing. Running is such an "every man for themselves" sort of sport, and this was the complete opposite.

It starts out with a run right through smoke and mud. The first obstacle was this which wasn't really that hard, just a little scrapy as it was over rock. Oh, and sprinklers were shooting water at you. No big deal. I won't talk about every obstacle, just a few, as there were 27 or so. This (I think they called it the ARctic Enema?) was really, really epic. Just, like, something that normal people don't do. You had to jump in to an ice bath (I cannonballed in), surface, and then there was a plywood wall topped with barbed wire that you had to go under, completely submerging yourself again. The guys went first, so that they could help us out. You had to wade out, climb up a ladder, and climb out. I was staring at my leg, thinking, lift your leg, LIFT IT, but couldn't. It was the strangest sensation. It was 8:30 am and I was in an ice bath in the middle of the woods. I was grateful for the guys help in getting out. Running through the fire was a little worse than I expected, I had to lift my shirt and cover my face with it as the smoke was really thick. The mud tunnels were really soft, dark, earthy, and smelly. I'm glad that I don't get claustrophobic or I would not have tolerated these well. The Plank was downright fun. This came at like mile 10, by this point I was hot and actually looking forward to getting back into the water and was feeling giddy knowing that the end was near. I did a backflip :). Okay, the log carry was no freaking joke. I picked a long skinny one and tried to carry it across my back like a squat bar. It tore up my spine, and I switched to one shoulder, but it was cutting me, and ended up carrying it in front like the guy in front in this photo. I sortov thought that this was, like, a photo op obstacle, like, you had to carry it 100 yards or something. No, you carried the damn thing a good 1/2 mile. It was BRUTAL. I found this to be the most challenging obstacle. It is a greased 1/2 pipe. I'm short. It took me two failed attempts (meaning, slamming myself into a half pipe and sliding down at top speed) before I caught hands and got hauled up. I got the run fast aspect, I totally didn't get the look UP aspect. You had to have total faith in the people ABOVE you, not in yourself. A good lesson in trusting others. The Electric Eel. I admit, I hadn't been afraid of this. I was all, whatever, it won't really hurt. Until it really hurt! And I was shouting, what the HELL??????? It had nothing to do with dodging the wires like I was trying to do, the shock was coming through the water. I heard people shouting GO FAST and just started hauling ass to get out of there as fast as I could. My muscles were twitching for about the next mile as I ran. A truly bizarre feeling. This was a double set of Berlin Walls. I can't remember if they were 12 or 10 feet, but they were HARD. Talk about team work, they were really tough. We figured them out, and by the second set Erica and I and another girl were even able to work together to get some women over ourselves! Two as a base for feet and one butt pushing, then pure strength to haul oneself to the top and over.....hang and drop and roll from the top down. I got tons of grass and dirt in my eyes here, but it is a great sense of accomplishment to work with other women from other teams to get one another over such massive walls! The Monkey Bars. They were greased. Oh, and spun. This was the obstacle I think I was proudest of getting through. The Mud Mile was a series of about 5 50 yard trenches of waist deep mud. This was at about mile 11.5, and just like the last ski run of the day is the most dangerous, these felt dangerous climbing in and out as there were sharp, slippery rocks and I knew we had tired legs. I was extra glad that we had all duct taped on our shoes as we surely would have lost them here. This was just.......wild. Down one tube and up another, pulling yourself along as quickly as you could. I was happy to get through the rings without falling into the ice water, it reminded me of being a little kid in gymnastics class :) The finale .....again through 10,000 volt live wires........I just put my head down and ran as fast as I could. I got one good zinger to my calf......and it was over.

Amidst all of that insanity, we ran 12.5 miles of Pocono mountain trails, up and down rocky trails with roots whipping at our ankles and crossing streams and making our way up and down black diamond-esque ski slopes.

We had an awesome team. We lost one team mate to a sprained and maybe broken ankle, she is waiting for the swelling to go down to see what is up. She made us leave her, saying she was quitting, then hobbled on her own to finish. Melis ~ you are one determined bitch and I love you, even if you are crazy.

I can't say enough what a fun day it was. I can't WAIT to do this next year with Nate ~ it is an incredibly bonding experience and one that I think we would have a blast doing together.

I got in 10 on the treadmill today, it felt great to work out the stiffness and clear my head ~ I am excited to NOT have a race this weekend and to get back into the usual groove of things! The photos from the race come out tomorrow and I'm excited to see them, I hope that they got some good team shots ~ I never order race photos, but this is a race that I just might, because this really was one to remember.

If there is a tough mudder near you, and you like a challenge and you like to have fun, sign up. You won't regret it. It's expensive, and worth every penny, and your money is going towards a great cause!